The Tragedy of India 


By Ed Gammons 


Gopal Singh Santokh Singh Bhagwan Singh 


To the People of the United States of America: « 


We know you love fair play. The people of the other continents have looked on America for the past century 
and a half as the refuge of the oppressed—a haven where the fighter of right against might could claim sanctuary 
from the wrath of tyrants. We claim that sanctuary today! for we, the sons of oppressed and bleeding Mother 
India, have fled here from the vengeance of an empire, builded on the corpses of defenseless nations and peoples. 

Today the United States Government proposes to send us manacled back to India. How joyous our hearts 
would be, if we were going back to a free and unfettered India. But the India we are being returned to is an op- 
pressed and desolate one. Famine and plague are killing our people by the millions. Death, raining from British 
aeroplanes armed with bombs and machine guns, daily decimates those who dare protest against alien rule. 

OUR DEPORTATION MEANS DEATH AT THE HANDS OF A BRITISH FIRING SQUAD! Will 
you countenance this outrage? “I ama, friend of every dauntless rebel,’ sung Walt Whitman, your glorious poet. 
‘And America has been! Kossuth was welcomed here. The gallant Irish rebels from ’47 and ’67, down to the herovc 
Eamonn De Valera, have been welcomed to your generous shores. All—all have lived here in peace and security. 

Read this pamphlet thoroughly! Try to realize the supreme justice of our cause. And then ask yourselves 
this question: ‘‘TIs it justice to these men to hand them over to the clutches of an alien conqueror who has cruelly 
misgoverned their country, and is now ready to claim their lives because they have demanded the rights of free men?” 


BHAGWAN SINGH, D. K. SARKAR, 
GOPAL SINGH, SANTOKH SINGH, 
TARAKNATH DAS, S. N. GHOSE. 


Famine and plague, deportations and firing squads, martial law with its machine gunned aeroplanes, 
buckshot and soft-nosed bullets—that is India of today! 

‘Bengal is a country of inexhaustible riches, capable of making its masters the richest corporation in the 
world,’”’? That is how Lord Clive, one of the administrators of the famous East India Company, described the 
great Indian province of the seventeenth century. 

Why this vast change between the independent India of two centuries ago and the subject India of today? 

The most malevolent misgovernment of history! 

India has been robbed morally, financially and physically. 

Great Britain has violated every right of the Indian people. 

She has killed any and every Indian industry which competed with her own. 

She has kept the people of India illiterate so that they might never aspire to be free men. 

She has fed her enemies’ cannon with Indian armies in the interest of Britain. 

She has taxed India without real representation. 

She has shot, deported and imprisoned Indian protestants. 

She holds India today by the bayonet. 

These facts are indisputable and most of them are admitted by Englishmen themselves and by all impartial 


observers. 
HOW AND WHY INDIA’S INDUSTRIES WERE KILLED 


“The Coast of Coromandel produces the finest and most beautiful cottons to be found in any part of the 
world,’’ wrote Marco Polo, famous explorer of the thirteenth century. 

“The birthplace of cotton manufacture is India, where it probably flourished long before the dawn of 
authentic history,’’ writes Baine in his History of Cotton Manufacture. 

“The Indians have in all ages maintained an unapproached and almost incredible perfection in their fab- 
ries of cotton—some of their muslins might be thought the work of fairies or insects, rather than men,’’ said 
the same writer. 


The cotton products of India were to be found every- 
where. They are found mentioned in the lists of duti- 
able goods in the Justinian Code of the fourth century. 
Every part of Asia and Africa bought them down to the 
eighteenth century. 

Then the manufacturers of Europe became apprehen- 
sive, 

‘As early as 1678,’’ says Lajpat Rai in his England’s 
Debt to India, ‘‘a loud outery was raised in England 
against the admission of Indian fabries, which ‘are ruin- 
ing our ancient woolen manufacturers’.”’ 

‘Indian silks and muslins are becoming the general 
wear in England,’’ complained a writer in 1696. 


THE COTTON INDUSTRY OF, SINDIA® WAS 
KILLED! 


The importation of Indian dyed goods into Great 
Britain was absolutely prohibited. An import duty of 
10 per cent was imposed on manufactured cotton and 14 
per cent on manufactured silk. 


The merchants of Bengal protested to His Majesty’s 
Privy Council for Trade. ‘‘ Your petitioners have found 
of late years that their business is nearly superseded 
by the introduction of the fabric of Great Britain into 
Bengal, the importation of which augments every year to 
the great prejudice of native manufacturers. * * * They 
feel confident that no disposition exists in England to 
shut the door against the industry of any part of the in- 
habitants of this great empire. They pray to be admit- 
ted to the privilege of British subjects and entreat your 
lerdships to allow the cotton and silk fabrics of Bengal 
to be used in Great Britain free of duty or at the same 


rate which may be charged on British fabrics sold here.’’ 
This protest was made in 1831. 


In 1840 a Select Committee of the British House of 


-Commons examined Indian complaints and found that 


‘‘the displacement of Indian manufactures by British 
is such that India is now dependent upon British manu- 
facturers for its supply of those articles.’’ 


This committee published these eloquent figures: _ 
Cotton Piece Goods Imported into Great Britain from the 


East Indies. 
10 140 es a ee eS 1,266,608 pieces 
VES B Ls ae cp es MENON: re Dye SP ERE 306,086 pieces 


British Cotton Manufactures Exported to India. 
818,208 yards 
183 dacen) 2S es eee 51,777,277 yards 


Here a very relevant question suggests itself. What 
became of the scores of millions dependent for a liveli- 
hood on the cotton industry? According to a witness be- 
fore this Select Committee, Mr. Andrew Sym, they 
turned to ‘‘agriculture, chiefly.’’ G. G. de H. Larpent, 
an Englishman, stated: ‘‘We have destroyed the manu- 
factures of India,’’ and he quoted Lord William Ben- 
tinck?s minute of a meeting of the Court of Directors, 
held on May 30th, 1829: ‘‘The sympathy of the Court is 
deeply excited by the report of the Board of Trade, ex- 
hibiting the gloomy picture of the effects of a commercial 
revolution productive of so much present suffering to 
numerous classes in India, and hardly to be paralleled in 
the history of commeree.’’ 


But the cotton industry, despite this sympathetic ref- 
erence, was killed! 


SHIPBUILDING AND MINERALS 


India was once Mistress of the Seas in Asia. With a 
seaboard of 4000 miles and splendid harbors, she built 
and maintained a merchant armada, which carried her 
commerce to historic Babylon and China as early as 3000 
B.C. Ships were built on the banks of almost every navi- 
gable river of any importance. An English naval author- 
ity stated in 1911 that Indian built ships lasted fifty years 
or more and that those built in Europe for Indian trade 
were seldom capable of making more than six voyages 
with safety! 


Lord Wellesley, then Governor General of India, de- 
clared in 1800: ‘‘From the quantity of tonnage now in 
Calcutta and the perfection which the art of shipbuilding 
has already attained, it is certain that this port will al- 
ways be able to furnish tonnage to whatever amount may 
be required for the conveyance to London of the trade of 
the British merchants of Bengal.’’ 


In April, 1863, it was found ‘‘undesirable, inadvis- 
able and unpatriotic”? to allow India to build and man 
her merchant marine, 


In 1857 India built 84,286 ships, tonnage 1,219,958. 
In 1912 the entire merchant fleet of India consisted of 
130 ships, tonnage 10,400. 

Another Indian industry stabbed to death! 


We all read in our youth of the fabulous wealth of the 
Hast Indies in the days of the early explorers and how 
they set forth to reach this treasure house of the world’s 
wealth. 


Yes, India was a land of mystery and wealth then— 


till the arrival of the East India Company. Then both 
characteristics disappeared. The famous English trad- 
ers were made ‘‘the richest corporation in the world,’’ as 
Lord Clive had anticipated. The East India Company 
paid 171 per cent per annum on its capital and its stock 
was so much in demand that.a one hundred pound share 
sold for five hundred pounds. How the East India Com- 
pany and its corrupt officials acquired the wealth of 
India is best described by Lord Clive himself: ‘‘TI shall 
only say that such a scene of anarchy, confusion, bribery, 
corruption and extortion was never seen or heard of in 
any country but Bengal; nor such and so many fortunes 
acquired in so unjust and rapacious a manner.’’ 


Every inhabitant of India, even the cheapest day 
laborer, had a hoard of diamonds and precious stones. 
The disappearance of this great wealth is described 
by Brooks Adams in ‘‘The Law of Civilization and De- 
cay’’: ‘These hoards, the savings of millions of human 
beings for centuries, the English seized and took to Lon- 
don, as the Romans had taken the spoils of Greece and 
Pontus to Italy.’’ ° 


This enormous wealth was, to a large extent, the capi- 
tal which insured the success of the British Industrial 
Revolution of the eighteenth century. And in a short 
while England was able to undersell Hindu labor in Cal- 
cutta! 


The minerals of India could not very well be seized and 
transported to London. They are, however, with the ex- 
ception of the coal, largely.in the hands of British capi- 
tal. 


Copper is largely distributed all over India. Yet, 
strange to say, $10,000,000 worth of that metal is an- 
nually imported ! 


Iron ore is largely distributed all over India. The 
smelters of Indian olden times turned out the finest steel 
in the world. As early as 1500 B. C. India was noted for 
its iron and steel products. Indian steel was highly 
prized for its fine temper and found a ready sale in the 
markets of Persia and England. 


‘No local industry has suffered more from importa- 
tion than that of iron smelting,’’ writes J. S. Cotton, 
author of the ‘‘Oxford Survey of British Empire.”’ 


The Allahabad Leader gives an eloquent explanation. 
“The exploitation of Indian mineral resources is pro- 
gressing quickly, but it has to be remembered that nearly 
all the metal ores are exported for manufacture and that 
they are imported back into the country in the form of 
wrought metallic ware for which we have to pay more 
than twenty times what we get from the export of the 
ores. In a recent year India exported $5,000,000 worth 
of raw minerals, excluding coal, salt, petroleum and salt- 
petre and imported $88,000,000 worth of metals and 
metal manufactures. ”’ 


India with large coal deposits imports cdal, with large 
copper deposits imports copper, with huge stores of iron 
ore and but a few smelters! 


AGRICULTURE HANDICAPPED! RESULT---FAMINE! 


England having destroyed the industries of India and 
driven her scores of millions of workers back to an arid 
soil, should, according to every sense of fair play, see that 
an industry, on which millions of her subjects were de- 
pendent for an existence, was fostered and improved. 


The reverse is the fact! 
Without irrigation agriculture in India is hopeless. 
Irrigation is culpably neglected by the government. 


With burdensome taxation it means debt and famine. 


The government imposes such a huge land tax that the 
Indians do not get enough to exist upon, There is no 
surplus left from their crops to tide them over a famine 
year, and the result is that India is periodically strewn 
with millions of her dead. 


Writing of the expenditures in the District of Bankura 
on railroads and canals, R. C. Dutt, English writer on 


Indian problems, states: ‘‘The discussion about the com- — 


parative merits of canals and railroads was carried on 
- and as might have been expected, preference was given to 
railroads which facilitated British trade with India and 
not canals which would have benefited Indian agricul- 
ture. Two hundred and twenty-five million pounds were 
spent in railroads, which resulted not in a profit but ina 
loss of forty million pounds to the Indian taxpayer up to 
1900. And so little were the interests of Indian agricul- 
ture appreciated that only twenty-five million pounds 
were spent on irrigation up to 1900.” 


Fhe District of Bankura is chronically ravaged by 
famine, the population dependent on agriculture is in- 
creasing and the crop area is decreasing. But irrigation 
is neglected and preference is given to ‘“‘railroads which 
facilitate British trade!”’ 


The government is ever promising that irrigation will 


be improved, but that this promise is like all promises of 
the past is evidenced by the figures of the Indian Budget 
for 1919-20, published last April. The British Army and 
railroads (‘‘to facilitate British trade’’) consume 75.38 
per cent of the estimated revenue; 24.62 per cent is left 
{o improve education, irrigation, agriculture, industries 
and the sciences! 


The land tax of India is the direct source of the appall- 
ing poverty and consequent famine. It constitutes about 
36 per cent of the gross taxation of India. In 1858 on 
the transference of the administration of India from the 
East India Company to the Crown the land tax was 
fixed at half the crop value. In 1909 the government 
admitted that it had increased 60 per cent in fifty years. 
The value of the rupee had decreased one-third. The 
actual increase is therefore 40 per cent. In some dis- 
tricts the tax has amounted to virtual confiscation of 
the entire crop. 


THIRTY-TWO MILLION INDIANS HAVE RE- 
CENTLY DIED FROM FAMINE AND PLAGUE! 


These deaths are directly attributable to the culpable 
neglect of irrigation by the British Government and the 
confiseatory land taxation levied upon the hundreds of 
millions of starving Indians. 

“THE BURNING GHATS AND BURIAL 
GROUNDS OF INDIA ARE LITERALLY SWAMPED 
WITH CORPSES,”’’ said a recent official report. 


There is one health officer to every 170,000 people. 
There is one hospital to every 70,000 people. 
There is one physician to every 3,000 people. 


What a terrible indictment of India’s alien govern- 
ment! 


THE SWADESHI MOVEMENT 


At the end of the century 1800-1900 William Digby, 
British statistician, estimates the adverse balance of 
trade against India at $25,000,000,000 ! 


About 1905 the Swadeshi movement appeared. Its 
oath ran: ‘‘With God as my witness I solemnly declare 
that from today I shall confine myself, for my personal 
requirements, to the use of cloth manufactured in India 
from Indian cotton, silk or wool, that I shall altogether 
abstain from using foreign cloth and that I shall destroy 
all foreign cloth in my possession.’’ 


The British Government—‘‘the Government of India’’ 
—get out to crush the movement at its very inception. 
The Bengalee of June 27th, 1905, states: ‘‘Mr. Lyal, the 
District Magistrate of Bhagalpur, sent for Sir Mohan 
Thakur and severely took him to task for accepting the 
chairmanship of a swadeshi meeting. Babu Surja Prasad, 
who had accepted the honorary secretaryship, was sub- 
poenaed and warned not to join the movement under any 
circumstances. Babu Giridhari Sahai, a magistrate and 
merchant, was not only rebuked and warned against the 


consequences, but the despotic magistrate would not let 
him off until he had extracted from Babu Giridhari a 
sort of pledge not to allow his son Basant Lal to have 
anything to do with the swadeshi. Mr. Lyal, not content 
with this intimidation, preached officially against the 
swadeshi,’’ 


‘The Government of India’’ has not confined 1tsaH- 
timidation to magisterial third-degreeing. The police 
system (the most corrupt in the world, as will be geen 
later) has terrorized merchants who sought to rehabili- 
tate Indian industries. They have made false charges 
against merchants refusing to handle British goods and 
every prominent advocate within the swadeshi move- 
ment has felt the heavy hand of the magistrate and the 
police agent. Printers, students, merchants, lecturers 
and editors were terrorized and imprisoned for this new 
crime of advocating the use of Indian manufactured 
goods. 


Reading down the list of punishments imposed for ad- 
vocating the swadeshi movement during 1906, we run 
across these items: 


April 26—Mohormulla of Rajbarighat fined 50 rupees 
by Subdivisional Magistrate Holmwood for not selling 
Liverpool salt. 


May 2—Madras, 20 students expelled from university 
for joining a swadeshi meeting. J, Ram Chandra and 
Hari Sarustham Ram discharged from the educational 
service for their sympathy with the cause. = 


April 25—Madras, Harisarothan Rio and 200 students 
dismissed from Art College for joining a swadeshi meet- 
ing, 


October 8—Noakhali, a boy of 14, was flogged (20 
stripes) by Magistrate Dunlop for shouting Bande- 
Mataram (Hail, Motherland), the swadeshi rallying ery. 


In the face of this official terrorism the renascence of 
Indian industry has been very slow. The increase of pro- 
duction in the cotton industry is illustrated by the fol- 
lowing figures relative to the number of cotton mills and 
machinery : 


Year Mills Spindles Looms 
1904 <i .i¢1s Lomi tus 6h, octane LOT 5,118,121 45,337 
1914 se 3k sland uly decrees 272 6,898,744 108,009 


No statistics are available regarding the other indus- 
tries. 


oe 


This is the end of an all too brief review of the govern- 
mental murder of the industries of India. 


EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM A BLIGHT 


Hducation makes for free men. So it is no surprise to 
find Dr. Wm. T. Harris, former United States Commis- 
sioner of Education, characterizing England’s educa- 
tional policy in India ag ‘“‘a blight on civilization.’’ He 
quotes a declaration of a prominent director of the old 
East India Company, when Wilberforce, an English 
philanthropist, offered to send school teachers to India: 
“We have just lost America from our folly in having al- 
lowed the establishment of schools and colleges, and it 
would not do for us to repeat.the same act of folly in 
regard to India.’’ 


The ‘‘Government of India’’ has faithfully pursued 
this policy of the early days. The Indian people have 
been plunged into the most abysmal ignorance. What a 
change from the olden days. ‘‘There was a time when 
India was rich—immensely rich,’’ says ‘‘England’s Debt 
to India,’”’ ‘‘rich in everything which makes a country 
great, noble and glorious. Her sons and daughters were 
distinguished in every walk of life. She produced schol- 
ars, thinkers, divines, poets and scientists, whose achieve- 
ments in their respective spheres were unique in their 
own times. Some of them remain unique even today. 
Among her children were sculptors, architects and paint- 
ers whose work compels admiration and exacts the praise 
of the most exacting art critics of the modern world. Her 
law-makers, jurists and sociologists have left behind them 
codes and ideas of justice inferior to none produced 
under similar conditions. Under their own codes, the 
people of India were happy and prosperous, ”’ 


The educational situation of India today may be 
judged by the following statistics: 


Expenditure on Education per Head. 
United Siete ie... gure ys, eae $4.00 


SWOUZer ANd 2 cee oy le ee a 3.20 
AUS UPLB itis clo oo nar: ug av, Se 2.82 
Bngland amgialeges ttc: |) same 1 gion 3.20 
Canada, cite nnti tied i it ee ee 2.45 


Hira ncétqet teehoadends eves eel Ales bree Ae LOT 
Japanviss) fei tees ob See Mio tami 53 
INDIA 2 2220 BUG 208 0) eget eras 024 
Percentage of Literates and Illiterates. 
Country Interates — Illiterates 
per cent per cent 
United’ States? 2heriver tie sina 92.0 8.0 
Britishilsles {713 So ae nan O716 2.4 
HY B11 CO. ants teal: mean anced eee DD ORS dee 
JADA} 2s 2 dee) Re a ee 90.0 10.0 
Philippines+igl4 it Daa Gata 44.4 55.6 
INDIA) iaart rec i ae aoe | 8.0 92.0 


England keeps Indians in ignorance, then piously as- 
severates that she will give them a share in the govern- 
ment of their country when they are properly educated ! 


Macaulay, the famous English essayist, perhaps fur- 
nishes the best answer to this empty declaration. In his 
Essay on Milton he says: ‘“Many politicians of our time 
are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident propo- 
sition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to 
use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in 
the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he 
had learnt to swim. If men are to wait till they have be- 
come good and wise in slavery, they may indeed wait 
forever.’’ 


Finally we will again draw on England for an explana- 
tion of her educational system in India—‘‘the blight on 
civilization,’’? as Dr. Harris termed it. After describing 
the unrest in Bombay following the big strike in April of 
this year, The London Times comments: ‘‘Hducation 
which will probably be free and compulsory in Bombay 
City will only accentuate the trouble, for educated men 
and women will not suffer the conditions now imposed 
on the Bombay working classes.?’ 


Sure! Education and serfdom cannot thrive together 
in the same land! 


INDIA’S “CONTRIBUTION” TO THE WAR AND THE REWARD 


When England declared war against Germany, India 
proved very handy. An Indian army of 200,000 men, 
the only trained reserve available in the British Km- 
pire, was rushed to the front. In the words of Lord 
Harding, the Viceroy of India, ‘‘they filled a gap that 
could not otherwise be filled.’’ And there are few sur- 
vivors. ‘‘It may be stated without exaggeration,’’ he 
further declared, ‘‘that India was bled absolutely white 
during the first few weeks of the war.’’ And when the 
defeat of Turkey was assured, Major General Sir Fred- 
erick Maurice wrote in the New York Times on Novem- 
ber 6, 1918: ‘‘Tt ts to India that our recent victory is 
due.’’ 


India, in addition to supplying 1,100,000 men up to 
the end of 1916, sold Britain 70,000,000 rounds of ammu- 
nition, 60,000 rifles, 1,500,000 tons of wheat and other 
foodstuffs, 2,250,000 pounds of wool and blankets, 1,500 
miles of railway equipment and 250 engines. Smaller 
quantities of hundreds of other commodities were also 
traded. 


How were these vast supplies paid for? 


“THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA’? MADE A 
“GIFT”? OF $500,000,000 TO THE GOVERNMENT 
OF GREAT BRITAIN! 


The people of India or their representatives in the Leg- 
islative Council of India were never consulted about it. 
The transaction was settled between ‘‘the Government of 
India’’ and the Secretary of State for India in London 
and then it was announced to the Legislative Council in 
India as a ‘‘decision.’’ The ‘Government of India’’ was 
to recoup itself by raising the duty on cotton imports 
four per cent ad valorem and by additional taxation. 
The added duty on cotton imposed an additional burden 
of $30,000,000 a year on the taxpayers! We shall quote 
Lord Harding later as to the effect of the additional tax- 
ation. 


Several liberal publications in England unsparingly 
condemned this gigantic theft. ‘‘It 1s we who govern 
India and not the Indian people,’’ protested the Man- 
chester Guardian. ‘‘For Mr. Chamberlain to throw upon 
the people of India the responsibility for originating and 
devising the $500,000,000 contribution, and the protec- 
tive duties connected with it, is as unconvincing a rhe- 
torical excuse as the House of Commons has witnessed 
for many a long day.’’ 


‘‘The people of India have no voice in this or any 
other act of government,’’ urged the London Nation. 
“‘Tf they had, they would be forced to think twice before 
contributing out of their dire poverty this huge sum to 
the resources of their wealthy rulers. Jt is sheer dis- 
honesty.’ 


Lord Harding, explaining the budget containing this 
‘“Coift’’, explained that it would ‘‘involve a sacrifice in a 
large measure of the necessities of ordered government. 
One result must be the arrested progress in education, im 
sanitation and in public works and kindred subjects 
which are in other countries the touchstone of civilized 
life.’’ 


Famine and plague stalk through India at this very 
moment. Yes, Lord Harding, progress has been arrested 
in India! 


What brand of democracy did India enjoy whilst she 
was being ‘‘bled absolutely white’’ in the cause of democ- 
racy—and self-determination ? 


Two hundred newspapers were suppressed during the 
first ten months of the war. In the first two years 3,000 
educators, editors and industrialists were shot, hanged, 
imprisoned or deported. Cash deposits made by over 
five hundred printing houses to guarantee that no sedi- 
tious statements were published were forfeited. The 
slightest criticism of officialdom was construed as sedi- 
tious and a vast sum of money forfeited. Wholesale 
repression was the order of the day and the legislative 
machinery: of the government was busy turning out re- 
strictive legislation. 


They found that this only increased the discontent and 
finally in 1917 the Rowlatt Commission, consisting of 
Judge Rowlatt of London, a number of Englishmen and 
a British appointed Indian, investigated and reported 
that there was a well-organized revolutionary movement 
in existence. The result was the enactment of two bills— 
the Rowlatt Bills. They were enacted despite the wnani- 
mous opposition of the people of India. Moderates, home 
rulers, extremists, Hindus, Mohammedans joined in one, 
mighty opposition. Nine Indian members of the Legisla- 
tive Council, after protesting with all their might, re- 
signed. Mahatma Gandhi, former extremist and former 
home ruler, now advocated a policy of passive resistance 
and Sunday, April 6th, was fixed for a mighty demonstra- 
tion. A most binding pledge was exacted from the par- 
ticipants in this passive resistance (satyagraha) move- 
ment. 


The Rowlatt Bills were to be enforced six months after 
the signing of peace and according to their provisions: 


1. Any Indian is subject to arrest without warrant and 
is subject to unlimited detention without trial. 


2. The burthen of proof rests upon the accused. 


3. Trial by jury is denied. Right of appeal is denied. 
‘*No order under this act shall be called into question in 
any court and no swt or other legal proceeding shall be 
against any person for anything which is in good faith 
done or intended to be done under this Act.’’ 


4. The accused may be convicted of an offense with 
which he is not charged. 


5. The prosecution ‘‘shall not be bound to observe the 
rules of the law of evidence.’’ In other words the testi- 
mony of dead, absent and non-existent ‘‘witnesses’’ can 
be used against a suspect. 


6. The accused is denied the right of employing a law- 
yer or producing witnesses. 


7. The authorities are empowered to use ‘‘any and 
every means’’ in carrying out the law and obtaining con- 
fessions. This undoubtedly means torture. 


8. The accused is given a secret trial. The method of 
the procedure and the findings of the trial may not be 
made public. 


9. The accused is kept ignorant of the names.and is not 
contronted with his accusers. 


10. Any person (even his or her own family) volun- 
tarily associating with an ex-political prisoner may be 
arrested and imprisoned. 


11. Any place or home ean be searched without war- 
rant. 


The intense opposition of the Indian people tempo- 
rarily centered in the passive resistance movement. 


BULLETS VERSUS PASSIVE RESISTANCE 


Satyagraha Day, April 6th, arrived. All India 
mourned, It was a day of humiliation, fasting, prayer 
and complete cessation of work. No fires were lit. No 
meals were cooked. Not a wheel moved. Not a shop was 
open. 


The ancient feuds between the various Indian commnu- 
nities were suspended. They are now wiped out. Hindus 
and Mohammedans, Sikhs and Marwaris, made common 
cause. In the public square of Calcutta Hindus drank 
water handed to them by Mohammedans. The latter 
reciprocated. In this simple manner was the caste sys- 
tem smashed. No longer can the alien conqueror use one 
sect against the other. They are both united against 
him. 


Two hundred thousand people assembled in Calcutta. 
They marched through the streets, bareheaded, wailing, 
beating their breasts, crying ‘‘Rowlatt Bills, hai, hai’’ 
‘(Down with the Rowlatt Bills). When the meeting con- 
vened, B. Chakravorty, the principal speaker, demanded 
that Great Britain redeem the pledge given the people of 
India when they accepted the late Queen Victoria as 
their sovereign. He read her proclamation to the people 
of India: ‘‘We hold ourselves bound to the natives of 
our Indian territories by the same obligation of duty 
which binds us to all our other subjects and those obli- 
gations, by the blessings of Alnughty God, we shall faith- 
fully and conscientiously fulfill.’”’ The speaker also 
dilated on the Magna Charta, the Petition of Rights and 
the Bill of Rights. He forgot that past history taught 
that treaties were but scraps of paper when small nations 
like Ireland and Belgium faced mighty empires. Reso- 
lutions were passed protesting against the enforcement of 
the Rowlatt Bills, and the assemblage dispersed peace- 
fully, despite the fact that missiles were thrown at a con- 
tingent from the Bristol Hotel. 


In Delhi, where one hundred thousand people demon- 
strated, the military fired on the paraders. In many of 
the large centers shops, owned by passive resisters, were 


opened at the point of the bayonet; when meetings were 
convened it was found that the speakers had been de- 
ported during the previous night and in many commu- 
nities active organizers were publicly flogged on the pre- 
text that they tore down government notices. 


Then came the calm before the storm. On the 11th of 
April all India went on strike. It was peaceful. The 
people were told by their leaders not to exact vengeance 
for the murdered of Satyagraha Day. Mahatma Gandhi 
repeated his exhortation: ‘‘Bear any abuse, any insult, 
any violence, any suffering, even unto death, without 
hatred, without resistance as brave men, as martyrs de- 
termined to maintain the truth at all cost.’’ The fra- 
ternization of the first great demonstration still con- 
tinued. Hindus went to Mohammedan mosques and 
prayed in Mohammedan style. The latter prayed in 
Hindu temples. Transportation was paralyzed. In a 
few instances where trains and street cars were running 
the people threw themselves down on the tracks and 
compelled them to stop. 


Aeroplanes dispersed the crowds with bombs and 
machine guns. In Calcutta the demonstrators were 
mown down with machine gun fire. At Lahore 400 stu- 
dents were fired upon because they refused “‘to move 
on.’? Martial law was proclaimed. Public whippings 
became the order of the day. The authorities in the 
Punjab ordered that the shops be opened and in the 
event of refusal, the owners were ordered fined, impris- 
oned and whipped. Passive resistance went! -Revolution 
came. Gandhi ordered the suspension of the movement 
and a seventy-two hour fast in atonement for the vio- 
lence, which he blamed on himself and his policy. 


All India is in open revolution! ‘The censor has 
clamped down the wires. Like the Sinn Feiners of Ire- 
land, the Indians are drilling without arms and guerrilla 
warfare is in progress. The policies of the moderate and 
passive resistance parties have been blown to bits by 
British bombs and India is united in demanding self- 
determination. 


REFORM BILL TOTALLY INADEQUATE 


Uninformed people are indignant today that India 
should attempt the physical destruction of British rule 
at a moment when Britain is anxious to ‘‘confer a large 
measure of self-government’? on the Indian people. 


These are the same people who were deceived by the 
Home Rule bogey in Ireland. England never meant to 
give Ireland Home Rule. Her politicians spoke eloquently 
about it. They put it on the statute book of Britain, but 
it never reached Ireland. The Irish have taken their 
independence by ignoring all parliamentary pitfalls. 
India must depend on herself the same as Ireland does 
and not look to any alien conqueror for justice. 


The Montagu reform scheme practically amounts to 
nothing. 


1. The Governor-General of India and the Executive 


Council of Six are appointed by the Secretary of State 
for India. 


2. The Council of State consists of 29 nominated and 
9 . 
21 elected members. The government determines the 
qualifications for membership. 


3. The Legislative Assembly consists of 100 members, 
two-thirds elected and one-third nominated. The govern- 
ment determines the qualifications of the voters electing 
the two-thirds. 


4. The Legislative Assembly cannot pass any legisla- 

tion rejected or disapproved by the Council of State, but 
the Council of State can pass any measure rejected or 
disapproved by the former. 


5. The Legislative Assembly cannot change or modify 
the Budget, which must be accepted as framed by the 
executive, : 


6. All laws are subject to the consent of the Governor- 
General. 


7. The power of veto will be vested in the Governor- 
General and the Secretary of State for India. 


8. Rules governing the procedure for the transaction 
of business will be made by the Governor-General and the 
Executive Council. No change can be made without the 
sanction of the Governor-General. 


9. The Governor-General will have power to dissolve 
either the Council of State or the Legislative Assembly. 


Where is the self-government here? 


All power is centered in the appointive officials of the 
British Crown. 


THE FINANCES OF INDIA ARE IN THE ABSO- 
LUTE CONTROL OF BRITAIN! 


The laws of India are’subject to the whim of Britain. 
This brings us down to the present hour, 
What does the future hold for India? 


That, only time will determine. The. defeats of today 


and yesterday are ever the lot of the aspirant, to liberty. 
We drink bitter chalices, we who toil upward to the goal 
of the freeman. We are persecuted both by the tyrants 
of the throne and the counting house and by the unthink- 
ing of our own brothers who are deceived by the specious 
falsehoods of our rulers. 


But we must not harken to our weary spirit or to the 
bitter whip of adversity. 


Rather let us believe with the immortal Byron: 


‘‘They. never die who fall 
In a great cause. The block may soak their gore, 
Their heads may rotten in the sun, their limbs 
Be strung to city gates and castle walls. 
But still their spirit walks around. 


Though years 
Elapse and others share as dark a doom, 
They but augment the deep and sweeping thought 
Which overpowers all others and turns the world 
At last to freedom.”’ 


TORTURE AND RAPE OF NATIVES BUT SLIGHTLY PENALIZED 


From the Calcutta Bengalee, May 2nd, 1919: ‘*At the 
Southern Police Court on yesterday, Mr. Swinhoe, Chief 
Presidency Magistrate, passed orders after hearing ‘in 
camera’ the case in which K, Morgan was charged under 
Sections 448, 426 and 354, I. P. C., with criminally as- 
saulting Miss L. Elloy, an Anglo-Indian girl. The ac- 
cused was fined one hundred rupees ($30) with the 
alternative of a month’s imprisonment.”’ 


From ‘‘Why India is in revolt against British Rule,’’ 
(1916): ‘‘On December 7th, the assistant station-master 
at Rawalpindi outraged the modesty of a girl in the wait- 
ing room and thereupon the wronged girl, named Viran- 
wate, committed suicide. Mr. Moore was simply dis- 
missed from the service. On February 17th at Barrack- 
pur Cantonment Station, a girl of 18, named Kamala, 


was waylaid by William James Walker and assaulted. He 
was fined two hundred rupees. On March 28th, a girl of 
20, named Girabala, was outraged by six soldiers at 
Jhalkati and all of them went free with loss of rank 
only.’’ 


From the Amrita Bazar of March 11th, 1919: ‘*The 
Allahabad High Court today dismissed the appeal of 
Lieutenant C. N. Maclorron (McLaren?). He was con- 
victed of torturing two native servants and sentenced to 
six months’ imprisonment. The prosecution proved that 
the defendant took two native servants, suspected of 
theft, to a golf links and after binding and gagging them, 
heated a poker in a charcoal stove and then, when it was 
red-hot, branded his victims on the bare soles of their 
feet and on their ears.’’ 


“CORRUPT AND INEFFICIENT” POLICE TO ENFORCE ROWLATT BILLS 


Tn a few short months from now the Rowlatt Bills will 
be in force in India. The police system of India will en- 
force them, Do you know anything of the police system 
of India? If you don’t, read these criticisms passed on 
that institution by a special commission appointed by 
Lord Curzon, when he was Viceroy of India: 


‘“‘The Commission regrets to report that they have the 
strongest evidence of the corruption and inefficiency of 
the great mass of investigating officers of the higher 
grades. The forms of corruption are very numerous. 
It manifests itself in every stage of the work of the police 
station. * * * 


‘What wonder is it that the people are said to dread 
the police and to do all they can to avoid any connection 
with a police investigation? Deliberate association with 
criminals in their gains, and deliberately false charges 
against innocent persons on the ground of private spite 


or village faction, deliberate torture of suspected persons 
and other most flagrant abuses constantly occur. * * * 


‘<The moral pressure is often of the most serious char- 
acter and though leaving no marks of physical violence, 
it amounts to very effective torture. * * * 


“The practice of working for confessions is still ex- 
ceedingly common. On the one hand it leads to gross 
abuse of power; and on the other hand, quite inexplicable 
instances occur of innocent people making ‘confessions’ !”’ 


The thought of the endowment of this body of con- 
scienceless men with the plenary powers conferred by the 
Rowlatt Bills makes one’s blood boil. 


We could publish instances of gruesome torture in- 
flicted on natives by these officials and proven before this 
commission, but we prefer quoting the British Govern- 
ment. 


IRISH CONVENTION PROTESTS AGAINST DEPORTATIONS 


The California State Convention of the Sons of Irish 
Freedom on July 6th, passed the following resolution 
unanimously : 

‘‘Whereas, The United States of America has, since it 
gained its independence from Great Britain in 1776, ex- 
tended the principle of political asylum to countless 
European patriots, who fled from the wrath of tyrannical 
governments, and this policy has been pursued without 
question till this date, and 

‘‘Whereas, The people of India, like the people of 
Ireland, have been compelled by intolerable conditions, 
both economic and political, to challenge the right of 
Great Britain in preventing India by armed force from 
asserting her right to national self-government, and 

‘“Whereas, Many of these Hindus, forced to seek ref- 
uge in this country, are now facing deportation proceed- 


ings, which, if carried out, will result in their instant 
execution by a British firing squad, India being now gov- 
erned by martial law; therefore 


‘‘Be it resolved, That we, the delegates accredited to 
this convention by the Irish Societies of the State of Cali- 
fornia, do hereby emphatically protest against the carry- 
ing out of these deportations and that copies of this reso- 
lution be forwarded to the organizations represented here 
for their adoption, to the Senators and Congressmen for, 
the State of California and to the San Francisco daily 
press.’’ 


Office Employes’ Association No. 13188, Street Rail- 
way Employes’ No. 518 and numerous other San Fran- 
cisco labor unions also passed resolutions, differently 
worded, condemning the proposed deportations. ‘ 


BRITISH LABOR CONDEMNS INDIAN OUTRAGES 


(From Lonpon Dairy Herap, April 24, 1919.) 


““We, the undersigned, appeal to our fellow country- 
men and women to give thought and attention to the con- 
dition of affairs in India. That country, which contains 
315 millions of human beings, is at present ruled by a 
handful of officials whose gross incompetence and ig- 
norance have brought these peaceful, law-abiding people 
to the verge of open, undisguised revolution, 

‘Indians ask the same rights, the same duties, the same 
recognition as Siberia, Poland, and other small European 
peoples. The bureaucrats of India reply with a Coercion 
Act which robs Indians of all freedom of speech, freedom 
of press, freedom of public meeting. 


‘““Indians are unarmed, yet they are bombed from aero- 
planes and shot down with machine guns. 


‘“We cannot believe our countrymen and women under- 
stand these things, neither do we think they realize that 
these autocratic methods place in jeopardy the lives of 
thousands of British men, women and children. 


‘“We therefore ask you to join us in our protest against 
the bombing and shooting of unarmed men and women, 
and in our demand for a public inquiry into these out- 
rages, the complete withdrawal of the Coercion Bills, and 
the immediate introduction of self-government, giving to 
the millions of Indians the same rights as now enjoyed by 
Canada, Australia and Africa. 


‘ROBERT WILLIAMS, 
‘“ROBERT SMILLIB, 
‘*GEORGE LANSBURY.’’ 


AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR JOINS PROTEST 


Just as this pamphlet goes to press, we are informed 
that Samuel Gompers, president of the American Fed- 
eration of Labor, will interview President Woodrow 
Wilson, as soon as possible, and present Mr, Wilson with 
a brief, prepared by the Friends of Freedom for India, 
protesting against the deportations. This gratifying 
action is the result of a thorough investigation of the 
merits of the fight against the deportations, made by the 
Executive Council of the A. F. of L. at the request of 
the recent Atlantic City convention, 


We regret the limitations imposed on us in getting 
our case to the public. Our finances are limited. Our 


influence in this country is so small as to be almost zero.” 


Yet we believe that the American public will weigh the 
facts and discount the subsidized campaign conducted 
against us by Britain. Our lives are in danger. And in 
this connection we will state we are as eager to protect 
Gobind Behari Lal from deportation as any of our- 
selves. He has been marked out for the supreme sacri- 


We take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude 
to Robert Morss Lovett, President of the Friends of 
Freedom for India; Frank P. Walsh and Dudley Field 
Malone, the Vice-Presidents; Miss Agnes Smedley, Sec- 
retary, and Louis P. Lochner, Treasurer, for the invalu- 
able work they accomplished in putting the case against 
the deportations before the public in so successful a 
manner. We invite Eastern friends to co-operate with 
them at 7 East Fifteenth St., New York. 


fice. The same principle applies to him and his ease. 


Friends and sympathizers can obtain free copies of 
this pamphlet at our office, 5 Wood St., San Francisco, 
Calif. 


Published by the 
HINDUSTAN GADAR PARTY. 


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